Sins of Sarah (13 page)

She gave a gasp of surprise at the new sensation of his tongue circling the swiftly aroused nipples, automatically arching towards him as he planted delicate kisses in a line from one swollen breast to the other, knowing from the hard line of his body against hers that he was as aroused as she was.

'I did myself no good at all this lunchtime,' he confessed huskily as he finally paused in his passionate assault on her.

'Why?'

Nick laughed softly and slid an exploring hand along her bared thigh to caress the curve of her hip with his fingertips under the lace that covered it. 'I undressed you to prove something to you,' he said, 'and I ended up wanting you all afternoon. This is wrong. I should stop. I promised myself I wouldn't do it.'

'But you want to?' And she knew he did from the look of pain that crossed his face.

'More than anything,' he sighed, 'I'd like to take you to bed, Sarah, and make love to you all night. But I can't. At least, not tonight. Charlie will be back in a minute and I can't hurt his feelings to that extent. He is my best friend, and we both know how he feels about you.' Sarah wound her arms around his neck, pulling him closer.

'To hell with Charles. This is between us, and strangely enough - I want it too. I can't quite believe I do, especially after today, but. . .'

'I think I was so angry because I was so worried about you,' he admitted. 'Maybe tomorrow, then. Maybe at the weekend. I'll think of something. I want you very badly, Sarah.'

It hardly seemed to matter that she was wearing a dress, the delicate fabric appeared to melt under his hands. Oblivious to their far from private situation, she lay across his lap, absorbed by the way his sensual hands roamed over her body, until the noisy whir of Charles's helicopter sweeping low over the house drew them reluctantly apart. Slowly Nick lifted her to her feet. 'Go to bed,' he said. 'You need sleep more than you need me.' He touched her cheek in the gentle gesture she had come to know and guided her out into the hall, only loosening his arm at the foot of the staircase. 'I'm so glad we made it up,' he said as he kissed her fervently. 'I'll see you in the pool.'

'As long as you don't try to prove a point again,' she teased.

Nick smiled, a little sadly, she thought.

'Sarah! Go to bed before I change my mind!'

'I'll see you in the morning,' she promised. 'Unless you want to come up and kiss me goodnight?' He laughed wickedly, his vivid blue eyes suddenly alight with mischief.

'I might just do that! Now go!' Sarah ran up to her room in a state of shock as Nick went out to meet Charles. Her skin tingled; her eyes were sparkling at her in the bathroom mirror. She touched the faint redness his beard growth had left on her face and neck, and wondered what on earth she had awakened in him and whether she could cope with it. Her body still remembered the few minutes she had spent in his arms, and trembled at the thought of Nick making love to her.

She doubted that he would come to her while Charles was in the house - he had been quite clear that they must put Charles's feelings first – but, she shrugged. One never knew! She put on the delicate silk nightdress Cress had brought from the flat by mistake amongst her things, before she went to pick up the book and curl up on the sofa with it. When Nick came up half an hour later, he found her fast asleep on the sofa, the book hardly started.

Probably just as well, he thought ruefully. Carefully, he lifted her up and carried her to the bed to put her into it, and she only stirred as he put her down. Her body was warm through the thin silk, and he was only too aware of it as she moved. With gentle hands he covered her, feeling the desperate urge for her building up inside him as he leant over her.

The dilemma over his feelings still churned as he went downstairs to join Charles, who poured him a drink and held it out silently. Nick carried it over to the window, staring out into the evening, battling with the new and frightening emotions he was feeling. For a man always in charge of his life, it was a disturbing experience.

'You know you're in love with that girl, don't you?' Charles said, sharply.

'What makes you think that?' Nick asked warily, startled by his perception.

'Just watching you, it's obvious. But typical, I suppose. And the other night when you were asleep in the car she was only concerned with you. I might just as well have been invisible.'

'What the hell am I going to do about it, Charlie?' Nick asked despondently, leaning his forehead against the cold glass.

'You need to ask me?' Charles was incredulous. 'I expect you'll do what you usually do - bed her and then use Diana as an excuse. You're a fool, Nick. She won't forgive you so easily either. One more dalliance and old man Mackenzie will take you apart!'

'Sod him! That stupid thing with Stephanie was three years ago! It meant nothing much either to Steph or me - and, frankly, Diana damn well drove me to it! She's about as warm as the South Pole in winter when it comes to sex!' Nick muttered irritably. 'My private life is nothing whatever to do with Diana's father anyway. Frankly, I'm sick of the sanctimonious old idiot! He's not so pure himself. I know he's been knocking off his secretary for years.'

'Maybe.' Charles looked grim as he watched Nick swallow the whisky uncharacteristically fast. 'But you are married to his daughter, and he'll protect her with his last breath, however unpleasant that makes your life. For heaven's sake, Nick, the guy lent us the money to start the company. Oh, I know he could afford it then, and he got it back with a huge profit, but morally you still owe that family a great deal! A bit of consideration for his daughter is the least he can expect.

It's time you learnt you can't take everything you want without hurting someone. One thing is for sure, you hurt Sarah in any way and I'll kill you - I mean it. Nick.'

'From your description, I'll probably be the one to get hurt,' Nick said bitterly. 'Alistair Mackenzie's a pig, but he's my problem, not yours. I'm the one who's married to his daughter after all.'

'Yes, and may I remind you that he is also chairman of the company that owns the lease at Wardour Street?'

'About the only thing that bankrupt bloody company does own these days!' Nick grumbled Mackenzies had been hit badly by the downturn in the property market, but the Wardour Street property stayed in their portfolio, somehow - mostly to spite Nick, - he was sure.

'Nick, why on earth don't we try and find new premises?' Charles said. 'At least then we'd be completely free of him. It's not as-if we can't afford to move, after all.'

'Forget it, Charlie! The hassle would be enormous! Anyway, I've just spent half a million on the small studio, and the lighting console in A is held together with gaffer tape. We'll need a huge injection of cash for that soon. Where the hell would we move to, anyway?'

'Maybe we should just get smaller offices and use other people's studios for a change?' Charles suggested mildly. 'It would certainly be cheaper.'

'No! You're even beginning to sound like an accountant!' Nick slammed his fist onto the windowsill. 'I've spent ten bloody hard years building that company up and we've always had our own studios. That was my first priority. I wouldn't even consider going to a four-waller situation.'

'You do for features.'

'That's different and you know it! We couldn't shoot that many commercials at Pinewood or Shepperton - the clients would never wear it - and that is where I'd shoot a studio feature. We are keeping Wardour Street! The lease is safe for several more years and Alistair can't touch us, Charlie. I won't let him.'

'Then you'd better keep your hands off Sarah Campbell,' Charles told him, with a glearn of satisfaction. 'Or all your hard work will be for nothing. Nick. Because, secure as our lease is, old man Mackenzie would get to you somehow. For God's sake! You know how I feel about Sarah, and you still can't resist having a go for her, can you?'

'Sarah's not for you, Charles. You must know that deep down, just as you knew Natasha wasn't.'

'We had the same argument over Natasha,' Charles remembered sadly.

'Yes, and look what it did to her!' Nick went to pour another drink. 'It bloody well killed her.' 'That was just as much your fault as mine!'

'It damn well wasn't, and you know it! Don't you dare bring that up again!'

'Natasha was on her way to see you when she crashed the car!'

'After I told her not to be so stupid! You were the one who drove her into drugs, Charles! As you probably would Sarah. I won't let you ruin her, I promise you.'

'Sarah is not Natasha,' Charles snapped at him.

'No, by the time Tasha was Sarah's age she'd dabbled with every drug known to man out of boredom! She was a free spirit, Charlie, and you trapped her. Just as you'd trap Sarah.'

'Tasha chose me.' Charles slumped back on the sofa. 'You never forgave her for that - or me, come to think of it.'

'Tasha almost broke me, mentally and financially,' Nick pointed out. 'As you know perfectly well. I was well rid of her, frankly. Oh, I loved her at first, I admit that, but God, was she destructive! She almost killed .you, with that heart attack you had. I think you had a lucky escape, if you must know!'

'Don't be so snide! You'd have married her like a shot if she'd wanted it.'

'Oh, no! That was one mistake I refused to make!' Nick laughed suddenly, but there was no joy in it, and, if he was completely honest, there was not much truth in his statement. He had been head-over-heels in love with Natasha Verney, in a way he had never been since with anyone, including Diana. But the secret was something that lived deep in his heart along with the devastating pain she had caused him.

'I slept with her for a year - but marry her? I had more sense, old son, as you should over Sarah. You can't turn her into the lady of the manor and deny her the chance of stardom that she's got. It would be an appalling waste. She'd end up hating you, as Natasha did.'

'So I can't marry her because you want her to be a star? You selfish sod. Nick!'

'No, Charlie, it's what Sarah wants, and that's what counts. If she wants me then you'll have to accept that, as I accepted that Tasha wanted to marry you. But I'll make you one promise - if you did, by any chance, - persuade Sarah to marry you then I would certainly leave her alone. I never want to be in the same situation we had with Tasha.'

'I'll never let you take Sarah – never. Somehow I intend to marry her, have no fear of that! I've got all the advantages where she is concerned, and I won't hesitate to use them. I'll fight you every inch of the way.'

Nick gave a start of shock, before he pulled himself together. The old arguments were suddenly very much alive, long after he had considered them buried, and there was a new edge of hysteria in Charles's voice that was completely at odds with his calm exterior. 'Don't be so bloody naive,' he retorted. 'She's nearly twenty-five, and I can assure you she has a mind of her own. You won't persuade her to do anything she doesn't want to do, believe me!'

'I suppose that means you've tried already?' Charles was bitter, and Nick shuddered at die venom in his voice.

'No, as a matter of fact I haven't touched her - yet. But I will, I can assure you of that! Leave her alone, Charles!' Charles hurled a cushion at him in exasperation. '

Is that a challenge, then?'

'Certainly! Don't worry, Charlie,' Nick added as he moved to the door, glad to get out of the chilling atmosphere of Charles's fury. 'You won't get a chance to get near her!' Taking his drink, he went to the gun room to sit for long minutes staring at the photographs of Sarah that he still had in his briefcase. He slumped over the desk, the shooting script forgotten in his dilemma over the girl he had held so briefly. He knew he was going to break every rule he had made for himself, and the promise he'd made to Diana after the last time. It was going to create a rift between himself and the man he considered his best friend, and yet still he couldn't stop.

Sarah was an ache, a need that wouldn't go away. Despite Diana, and Charles, Nick knew he couldn't stop now.

Just the memory of her smooth young body in his arms made him twist with desire.

He drank far more that evening than he normally did, in a futile effort to sleep, but he still lay awake half the night tossing restlessly. He cursed his own weakness, telling himself it was wrong, knowing the damage he could do to Sarah herself. Just once, he told himself, I'll take her just once, then the need, and the pain, will go away.

CHAPTER 8

Sarah was awake early, and lay stretching luxuriously into wakefulness as she listened to Charles's helicopter take off and turn low over the house in the direction of London. Despite his professed poverty over his Lloyds losses, he still lived differently from anything she had ever dreamt of, she realized as she watched it swirl away in the early-morning mist.

Somehow it never occurred to her to close the curtains at Hastings Court. The heavy damask drapes looked as if they had been hanging in those folds for years, though she knew her room had only recently been redecorated.

Charles had taken her on a tour of the house not long after she had arrived that first week, and lovingly detailed the work he had done on it in the last few years, as his time and money had permitted. For a business-orientated man, she acknowledged, he had very good taste, having accomplished the design work single-handed.